Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504220008
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: F-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But that was almost a generation ago.
The core beach area now boasts a tidy, two-mile oceanfront walkway, complete with mulch, flowers, teak benches and bike-rental stands that hawk a variety of two-wheelers, with or without child seats. Some even offer bicycles built for two.
Virginia Beach, which boasts that it is spending $100 million on itself, is succeeding in its efforts to be a vacation base for families.
However, if you need just a teensy taste of the past in a place where the entire family will also be comfortable, check out Charlie's Seafood Restaurant. It's a few minutes from the beach on Shore Drive between Lynnhaven Inlet and Great Neck Road.
Charlie's is like most of the fast-disappearing mom-and-pop businesses. It depends on the summer tourists, but faces ever more competition from the restaurants on Atlantic and Pacific avenues in the core beach area.
Charlie's has been in the same building since 1953. It's a nondescript place that's equally unfancy inside, but its plainness embraces a tired, sunburned visitor like a parent's arms. It can produce a cool drink - iced tea or a Margarita - and the kind of menu that makes you wish for elastic at the waist.
"We've done everything to keep things the same," said Charlie Rehpelz, a third generation Charlie.
The restaurant was started by his grandparents, Charlie and Mary Ellen Rehpelz, in 1946, in a building that was across the road from the present location. Young Charlie, 41, and his brother, Paul, 39, took over 13 years ago.
And their idea of keeping things the same translates to the food, too. The fried oysters are worth violating any diet. The she-crab soup is the same award-winning recipe. Crab cakes remain a specialty along with a variety of fresh seafood available as entrees that average about $12 for dinner.
The drive to Charlie's is pleasant and has a couple of stops worth checking out. If you leave the main beachfront shortly after lunch, you can drop in on the Association for Research and Enlightenment and Seashore State Park and still get to Charlie's before you starve.
A.R.E. is the institute founded by the late Edgar Cayce, a seer who diagnosed illnesses while in a trance. In addition to a lovely outside meditation garden, the center boasts a fine bookstore, has an inside meditation room where yoga classes are scheduled and offers free lectures on just about anything from finance to mind travel. The lobby boasts a machine that lets you and a friend test your extrasensory perception, or ESP.
If you know Cayce's works, you'll love the center; if you think it sounds bizarre, you'll still enjoy it.
A short few minutes from A.R.E. is Seashore State Park where the campground is almost always filled, but there are hiking trails that can help you build up an appetite.
Virginia Beach may have more going on around it than most any other beach. Certainly, there's no excuse for boredom, especially not with the Virginia Marine Science Museum, which you find by going in the other direction from beach center.
In the winter, the museum runs whale-watching trips and has an excellent track record for sightings. In the summer, it offers two-hour dolphin watching cruises from mid-June through Sept. 3, and a sighting is pretty much guaranteed, said Lynn Clements, a former teacher who is education program coordinator for the museum.
The annual dolphin count, held in July, confirms that more than 300 of the mammals cruise the area, Clements said.
The marine science facility is growing, in acreage (from 9 to 45) and buildings. "Don't be put off by the construction," she warns.
Work began last fall on a building that will tell the story of Owls Creek, the waterway behind the museum, and the salt marsh that spreads from the creek.
This display building will include a river otter habitat with underwater viewing. When the $35 million expansion is complete next summer, the museum also will have a six-story-high theater.
For now, though, while everything is being built, bring your binoculars, your blockout and your patience, and you can see furry animals and an amazing collection of fiddler crabs outdoors. Plus, inside, you'll get a short course in marine science and a history of life along the waterway.
The museum is a wonderland of hands-on experiences that are great for youngsters and challenging enough to keep adults occupied.
The museum also runs a number of weeklong summer camps for ages 7 through 13. For information on those and any other of the museum's activities, call (804) 437-4949.
Also keep in mind that an easy way to get to the museum, or to travel the beach area in general, is via shuttle bus.
You can't take the bus, however, to another recommended getaway spot, the Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Suffolk. About an hour from the beach, this 107,000-acre refuge has hiking and biking trails and even a campground that can be reached only by boat. It is open during daylight hours April 1 through Sept. 30. One of the drawing cards is Lake Drummond, a 3,100-acre freshwater lake in the center of the refuge. But if you don't get that far into the area, you should at least enjoy the 3/4-mile boardwalk. From it, you are certain to see a variety of birds, you might see beaver and otter and there's a possibility of spotting a black bear. Yes, there are snakes here too. The refuge is home to three varieties of poisonous snakes, the cottonmouth, the copperhead and the rattlesnake.
"We don't have them hanging out of the trees and dropping down on the road, but they're here," said Teresa Cherry, outdoor recreational planner. Usually a snake is spotted while placidly sunning itself, she said. Besides, the trails are like one-lane gravel roads, so visibility is excellent.
Currently the Dismal Swamp area is ripe for birders because of the April-May songbird migration. It's also good for butterflies and wildflowers, which make it a rich place for photography.
Several things to keep in mind if you plan the Dismal Swamp refuge trip: Dress for the weather; long pants are recommended - so is insect repellent - and bring along plenty to drink, and food if you plan to stay awhile.
The nearest food store or restaurant is 25 minutes away, Cherry said. Here are her directions to get to the refuge from Virginia Beach: Take Interstate 64 toward Chesapeake and Suffolk; follow to end and stay right; go past Hampton Roads airport and take the 58/460/13 exit to downtown Suffolk; go to fifth stoplight and turn left on Virginia 13 and 32 South, follow seven miles and 32 South branches to left; go that way and follow refuge signs.
If you get lost, stop and call Cherry at (804) 986-3705.
One appeal of Virginia Beach is all the other places and activities within a short drive. Definitely, Norfolk's Waterside deserves one night of your stay.
However, paying attention to what's near the beach doesn't mean what's there is any less interesting. In fact, if you're in an oceanfront room with a balcony, you can be entertained for hours by watching people go up and down the boardwalk.
The city of Virginia Beach also has plenty of organized things for visitors to do or watch. May 5, for example, is the date for the Eastern Surfing Association Mid-Atlantic Regionals; May 19 is beach music weekend; June 9-11 is North American Fireworks Competition.
Cellar Door, which brings entertainers to civic centers all over, has been hired by Virginia Beach to run its events this year. A full calendar of concerts and free movies of the "Free Willy" and "The Lion King" variety are scheduled on the 24th Street Park stage.
For further information on beach attractions and events planned and package deals offered, call the Virginia Beach Information Center at (800) 822-3224.
Sandra Brown Kelly is a reporter on the Roanoke Times & World-News' business staff.
by CNB